Gerard Parkes

Acting

Gerard Parkes

Born 1924-10-16 · Dublin, Ireland

Gerard "Gerry" Parkes was an Irish-born Canadian actor. He was born in Dublin, and moved to Toronto in 1956. He is best known for playing "Doc" on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television series Fraggle Rock and the bartender in the film The Boondock Saints and its sequel The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. His acting career spanned film, radio, television, and the stage. Parkes worked often on CBC radio, beginning in 1959, and shifted into television and film, acting in such diverse series as the 1960s' ecological adventure series The Forest Rangers, children's show The Littlest Hobo, and the detective series Cagney and Lacey. In 1968, Parkes won the first Canadian film award (then called the Etrog and now known as the Gemini) for his portrayal of Uncle Matthew in the movie Isabel. He received the Andrew Allan Award in 1983 for Best Radio Actor, and in 1999, he won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role for Kilt. In 1996, he portrayed Jonathan Swift in the HBO Original Film Handel's Last Chance. In 1998, he appeared on an episode of PBS's Noddy, as Wally the Wanderer in "Noah's Leaving". He appeared with Willem Dafoe and Billy Connolly in The Boondock Saints (playing a Tourette's syndrome-afflicted bartender, also named "Doc"). He reprised the role for The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. He appeared in The Adjuster (1991), premiering at the New York Film Festival. In 1991, it won the Special Silver St. George at the 17th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1993, the Toronto International Film Festival ranked the film 10th in the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time. This page is based on a Wikipedia article written by contributors. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.

Acting credits

The Boondock Saints poster
7.2

Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner and Murphy are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker, an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail.

The Boondock Saints

1999

It Takes Two poster
6.5

Identical 9-year-olds from very different backgrounds: orphaned Amanda and wealthy Alyssa meet at summer camp and decide to switch places -- and play matchmaker between Alyssa's dad, Roger, and the kind social worker who cares for Amanda.

It Takes Two

1995

Short Circuit 2 poster
6.2

Robot Johnny 5 moves to the city to help his friend Ben Jahrvi with his toy manufacturing enterprise, only to be manipulated by criminals who want to use him for their own nefarious purposes.

Short Circuit 2

1988

Spasms poster
4.6

A gigantic serpent is captured on a remote island and shipped to an American college for experimentation.

Spasms

1983

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day poster
6.0

Skillfully framed by an unknown enemy for the murder of a priest, wanted vigilante MacManus brothers Murphy and Connor must come out of hiding on a sheep farm in Ireland to fight for justice in Boston.

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

2009

The First Time poster
5.0

With the coming of summer, three high school buddies--Kenny Leeds, Mike Decker, and Tommy Kingsley--anticipate their initiation into the pleasures of manhood. But Kenny is separated from his friends and sent to stay with his grandparents in Buffalo while his father, a widowed salesman, leaves on a business trip with his secretary-fiancée. Bored and alone in a strange city, Kenny writes his two friends letters about his adventures at "Rosie's," a fictitious brothel across the Canadian border in Niagara Falls. His lie quickly backfires.

The First Time

1969

Trapped in Paradise poster
5.6

Residents of a friendly Pennsylvania town foil three brothers' plan to rob a bank on Christmas Eve.

Trapped in Paradise

1994

A Muppet Family Christmas poster
6.9

Fozzie Bear surprises his mother on Christmas Eve by bringing the entire Muppet gang to her farm to celebrate the holidays. Doc and his dog Sprocket, who had planned a quiet Christmas, end up joining the Muppets in their holiday activities and preparations. The Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock regulars join the festivities, but to Kermit's dismay, the only one missing is Miss Piggy, who has been caught in a snowstorm.

A Muppet Family Christmas

1987

Mother Night poster
6.6

An American spy behind the lines during WWII serves as a Nazi propagandist, a role he cannot escape in his future life as he can never reveal his real role in the war.

Mother Night

1996

Thanks of a Grateful Nation poster
4.8

An examination of the aftermath of Desert Storm and how servicemen and women were affected by it medically.

Thanks of a Grateful Nation

1998

Speaking Parts poster
6.0

Hotel employee Lisa develops an obsession with her co-worker Lance, a struggling actor who has appeared in several films as an extra.

Speaking Parts

1990

Fraggle Rock: Scared Silly poster
NR

Join the Fraggle gang in three frightfully delightful episodes full of mystery and magic! From Wembley accidentally wandering into the cursed “Terrible Tunnel,” Boober discovering what makes Fraggle tails flare when they get startled, and Ma and Pa Gorg leaving Junior alone in the castle on a dark and stormy night, Fraggle Rock: Scared Silly is bursting with Halloween fun! Include 3 ghostly episodes: “Terrible Tunnel,” “Scared Silly” and “A Dark & Stormy Night.”

Fraggle Rock: Scared Silly

1985

The Gunrunner poster
3.9

1926. The Chinese Civil War. Drifter Ted Beaubien is captured and forced to witness his girlfriend's execution. He finally escapes and vows to avenge her death by taking on a deadly mission to buy guns abroad and smuggle them back. Arriving in his hometown, Ted is shocked to find his elderly mother and younger brother George are penniless. But time is running out, and before he can help them, he's got to get the guns. In setting up the deal, Ted meets and falls for the seductive nightclub owner Maud Ryan who introduces him to the treacherous gangsters who will sell him the artillery. For a gun-runner, falling in love is like pointing a pistol at your heart - and pulling the trigger!

The Gunrunner

1990

An American Christmas Carol poster
6.2

In Depression-era New England, a miserly businessman named Benedict Slade receives a long-overdue attitude adjustment one Christmas Eve when he is visited by three ghostly figures who resemble three of the people whose possessions Slade had seized to collect on unpaid loans. Assuming the roles of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future from Charles Dickens' classic story, the three apparitions force Slade to face the consequences of his skinflint ways, and he becomes a caring, generous, amiable man.

An American Christmas Carol

1979

Rescuers: Stories of Courage - Two Women poster
8.5

First in a series of anthology films dealing with Christians who put their lives on the line to help rescue Jews from the Holocaust. In the first of two short films, "Mamusha," as the Nazis invade her country, a Polish Catholic housekeeper takes under her wing the youngster in the Jewish family for whom she is employed, and shepherds him through WWII in hopes of ultimately getting him repatriated to Palestine. In "Woman on a Bicycle," an unmarried French woman is pressed into service by the church to distribute underground communication pamphlets for the Resistance and ultimately ends up helping the church shelter 19 Jews.

Rescuers: Stories of Courage - Two Women

1997

The Adjuster poster
6.0

An uptight insurance man and his film-censor wife become a kinky couple's landlords.

The Adjuster

1991

Draw! poster
6.5

In the final days of the Old West, a former desperado faces down a now drunken ex-sheriff, who was his long time nemesis.

Draw!

1984

Common Ground poster
8.5

Fact based story about the racial tensions that occurred in Boston in the 1970's because of court ordered busing to end desegregation. The story focuses on an African-American mother determined to get her children a quality education and a white lawyer trying to deal with inner city problems.

Common Ground

1990

Bethune poster
6.0

Based on the true story of Canadian doctor Norman Bethune, this film traces his life from his beginnings with his deeply religious family in Ontario, through his medical studies in school, where he developed his overwhelming compassion for those less fortunate, and his driving desire to see that they get the medical attention they need. Most of his life after college was spent either working in war zones around Europe or developing new treatment techniques in his home country.

Bethune

1977

Must Be Santa poster
3.5

When the reigning Santa is no longer fit for duty his helpers must search for a replacement. This leads to a wacky, exhausting hunt and doesn't turn up exactly what Santa's angels hoped for. To make matters worse still, "Santy" winds up being just this side of totally undesirable.

Must Be Santa

1999

Money poster
5.5

A young man whose father's fortune was stolen by his closest friends sets out to get revenge in this odyssey through the world's major financial centers.

Money

1991

Deeply poster
6.3

On Ironbound Island, native Fiona McKay arrives from Europe with her teenage daughter Clair, hoping that the peace of the island will help the girl get over the death of her boyfriend. The girl finds comfort in the company of a visiting American girl and more so in the stories of Celia, a crazy old local who weaves enchanting tales which cleverly combine her own experiences on the island with mystifying legends.

Deeply

2000

Yesterday poster
7.5

A young American hockey player, studying in Canada on a hockey scholarship, falls in love while risking his scholarship and the prospect of the Vietnam war draft.

Yesterday

1980

The Pyx poster
5.5

A detective investigating the death of a heroin-addicted prostitute uncovers evidence pointing to the existence of a murderous devil cult.

The Pyx

1973